


The Sunshine Girl

by orphan_account



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Camp Half-Blood, Demigods, F/M, Festus - Freeform, Music, apollo - Freeform, leo valdez - Freeform, unclaimed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-01 18:14:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10927311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Aria had always considered herself fairly normal. She had her good friends and her not so good friends, her quirks and hobbies and messed up family just like any other teenager. That is, until one strange curly-haired boy weasels his way into her life.





	1. Chapter 1

Aria slung her backpack over her shoulder and grabbed her flute from by the door, blonde hair swinging in front of her face irritatingly. She swept the curls from her face with the back of her hand.

“Bye mom!” She called, unlocking the front door and stepping outside. The distant sound of her mom’s voice was the last thing she heard before the door slammed shut. Even though it was only seven in the morning, it was already pretty warm. Aria hummed happily, feeling the rising sun in the distance warming her bare legs.   
She skipped down the worn steps and started on her walk to school through the city. Brooklyn could be quite nice in late May, and Aria had been enjoying shorts weather. Pretty soon the sun was directly in her eyes as she approached the school, and she winced. 

Olympia High was a bustling school that most of the Brooklyn kids attended. Aria carefully picked her way through the crowd to her locker, where she knew her best friend would be waiting for her. Aria reminded herself that this was the last week of the school with a deep breath as she narrowly avoided an elbow to the face. Being a shorter kid at 5’2, she was used to getting pushed around in the hallways. 

“My God!” Aria exclaimed to her friend, rolling her eyes exaggeratedly. She hit her locker in just the right spot, and it sprang open. She had forgotten the combo long ago. 

“Right?” Lina replied, leaning her back against the locker next to Aria’s. She looked around the hallway with a bemused look. “I literally hate everyone here,” She shrugged and gave Aria a sympathetic look. “What’s it today?” 

“I’m just so done with my step-father, don’t really want to talk about it. Plus, it’s Monday,” Aria laughed it off, putting her books into her locker and carefully placing her flute onto a separate shelf.

“Girl, now you’re playing the flute? That’s like-” Lina paused as she counted in her head. “Eight instruments!” 

Aria didn’t say anything, just blushed as they started off towards their first class. 

“Oh! Plus your amazing singing voice,” Lina said loudly, and Aria gave her a warning look. Lina just grinned. “Just kidding, you suck at singing.”

Aria dumped her books on her table in the science classroom, and then turned to Lina. “You know what-” She began, but broke off instantly once she saw what was happening in the hallway. The science classroom was open to the hallway with a counter separating it. Voices had fallen to hushed whispers. Aria stood on her tiptoes to look at what was happening, and Lina turned towards the hallway also.

A boy was strolling through the parted crowd, a mischievous smirk on his caramel face. His walk was easy and relaxed, but he still had a little bounce in his step. Aria’s mouth parted slightly. The other boys in her school were ugly as shit compared to this new arrival. The boy’s messy hair was black, the sunlight turning the ends dark brown. It was wavy, framing his face perfectly. His angles were all sharp, from his chin to his nose.

“Hot diddly damn,” Lina whispered. Aria giggled, making eye contact with Lina and trying not to burst out laughing. 

“Shh, shh!” Aria covered her mouth and grabbed Lina’s shoulder as she saw that the boy was coming into their classroom. The two girls tried to act like they weren’t totally freaking out over the hotness of this boy as he spoke with the teacher. Aria couldn’t tear her eyes away from the boy, the curve of his mouth as he spoke, his toned arms and chest under his gray t-shirt, his sinfully long eyelashes. Aria caught part of the conversation. His name was Leo something, and he was from Texas. Lina snapped her fingers in front of Aria’s face, totally startling her. 

“What?” Aria said disorientedly. Lina snorted, her shoulder-length, wavy brown hair rippling. 

“Girl, you are so out of it.”

“His name is Leo and he is from Houston, Texas!” Aria whispered excitedly, ignoring Lina. 

“Oh!” Lina said loudly, swooning dramatically. Her green eyes were alight with mischief. “Leo from Texas!” She cried. Aria punched her in the arm, but the damage was already done.

Leo turned from the teacher, smiling as he looked at Lina, an eyebrow raised. Lina waved her sarcastic wave. Then Leo’s gaze fell on Aria, and he changed completely. His mouth fell into a straight line, eyes losing their glinting humor and becoming serious. He looked away quickly, turning back to the teacher. Aria frowned, slowly turning and sitting down at her desk. Lina, ever observant, put her arm on Aria’s arm sadly, pulling away as the bell for first hour rang.

Aria realized dreadfully that her desk-partner had left for summer break early and Leo would definitely be sitting next to her. She crossed her arms on her desk, ducking her head as Leo brushed past to get to his chair in the next aisle over. He slid into his chair next to her, placing a black notebook and broken pencil with flame decorations on the corner of the desk. Aria’s nails dug into her arm, suddenly self-conscious about her own cheerful yellow and pink school supplies. Out of the corner of her eye she saw his thin fingers drumming on his knee. She turned her head in his direction with a deep breath.

“Hi. I’m Aria Carmine,” She offered her hand. He looked in her direction with surprise, but gave her a small smile in return. His angled, brown eyes were kind under his dark eyelashes.

“Leo Valdez,” He shook her hand. Aria thought she heard a faint spanish accent. She noticed how calloused his fingers were with surprise. They matched hers from playing guitar and harp. Something about him just wasn’t screaming musician to her, though. She opened her mouth to ask him a question, but the teacher began the class and she turned back to the front, thoughts nagging at the back of her mind the entire class period.


	2. Chapter 2

Aria sighed as she made her way to her lunch table outside, trying to get Leo off her mind. She grinned as she saw her friends at the picnic table, walking faster. They always could make her laugh. Lina patted the spot next to her with a smile. Aria sat with a huff, closing her eyes and feeling the sun sink into her skin. She loved the sun.

“Rough day?” Cora, who sat across from Aria, looked at the blond with concern. She was another one of Aria’s better friends, playing saxophone in the school band. 

“You could say that,” Aria said glumly, pulling a clementine out of her bag and beginning to peel it. She suddenly felt eyes on her back and she stiffened.

“She has a major crush on the new kid, Leo,” Lina said nonchalantly. Aria gasped, wondering how her “bff” could betray her like this. The entire table of girls burst into excited chatter about the mysterious, sexy Leo Valdez. “He’s in all of her classes,” Lina offered. 

“Lucky!” Chloe sighed. The red-headed mathematician sighed, and you could just see the love in her eyes. 

“I freaking hate him,” Aria muttered, not as quietly as she should’ve. 

“Now, now,” Lina put an arm around Aria. “You don’t mean that.” Down the table, the girls were still discussing Leo. 

“He kinda looks like an elf,” Maia piped up, and Kailey laughed, gesturing to Maia.

“It’s the ears!” Kailey exclaimed. A smile tugged at Aria’s mouth.

“Yes, I do!” Aria said indignantly. “He is always fidgeting, he always needs to borrow a pencil, he tells the worst jokes, he smiles at everyone, he smells way too good…” Aria trailed off, realizing she was no longer listing bad things. Aria turned her head to the side and swept her eyes over the courtyard, eventually locking eyes with someone. Leo, she thought. He was looking directly at her. She blushed slightly and turned back to her friends. 

“Oh, hon,” Lina gave her a sympathetic look. She suddenly glanced up, disgust filling her expression. Aria glanced in the same direction, and sighed inwardly. It was the Bronan twins.

“What do you want?” Aria said sharply. Ever since the two brothers, Angus and Bruce had moved to her school, they had been bothering her daily. Not only did they smell bad, they were extremely weird, always together and always strangely serious. 

“Come with us,” The bigger one, Bruce spoke gruffly. He was normally the speaker, whereas Angus just stood in the back with a scowl. 

“No! Please go away,” Aria said firmly. Aria tried not to look directly into his face, afraid of it’s ugliness blinding her. Bruce’s monstrous face contorted, making him look even more angry then he looked on a daily basis. 

“We need to talk,” He said again in his deep voice. 

“Leave her alone!” Lina stood up, her chair scooting back with a screech. Heads turned in their direction and Aria tugged on Lina’s wrist. 

“It’s okay…” Aria said quietly.

“No, it’s not! Go bother someone else, dickwads!” Lina exclaimed. The two buff, six-foot high-schoolers gave Aria one more intense look before stalking out of the courtyard. Aria stood up shakily. 

“I’ll see you guys after school,” Aria managed to give her friends a half smile before quickly walking towards the school. This day had gone from bad to worse, and she just needed to be alone, preferably with her music.

On her way she caught the glance of Leo. He was sitting at the popular table, surrounded by loud, rowdy boys, who were all telling jokes and throwing food. However, he wasn’t joining in on the laughter, instead watching her with walk out with concerned eyes. She looked away quickly and swung open the door, half running to the music room. She grabbed her violin and found an empty lesson room. With shaking hands she got out her violin and bow, nestling it under her chin in its familiar position. Closing her eyes, she drew the bow across the strings, smiling as sweet music spilled off the strings. She began playing from memory, a song that began melancholy before becoming more and more intense. Aria lost herself in the music, becoming one with the notes and sound. She reached the end of the song sadly, last note fading away. Breathing heavily, Aria opened her eyes. They were wet, she hadn’t realized she had begun crying. Aria turned toward the piano bench where she had left the case. Coming out of her musical high, she slowly realized that there was another person present in the room. Resting his elbows on the back of the piano, Leo Valdez was standing there with a peculiar expression on his maddeningly cute face. 

“Valdez,” Aria sighed, packing up her violin. 

“Carmine,” Leo responded with a grin. It quickly faded, however. “That was… that was so beautiful,” Leo said softly. Aria glanced up at Leo in surprise. His dark eyes held a depth that Aria had to look away from, or she felt like she was violating his privacy. 

“Thank you,” She replied, sniffling a bit and wiping her eyes, hoping her mascara hadn’t smudged. 

“I… I saw those two guys bothering you,” Leo spoke. “Do you need some help with them?”

“No…” Aria responded. “They’re intimidating, but they are harmless, really.”

Leo nodded, an odd expression on his face. “So.. um, whaddya have next?”

“Choir,” Aria said brightly. She loved singing. “How about you?”

“Ooh, singing. Not my strong suit. Shop class,” Leo responded. 

“Oh, I should’ve known.”

Leo tilted his head to the side in confusion. 

“What?”

“The callouses on your fingers,” Aria explained quickly, motioning to his long, brown fingers. Hers were very dainty in comparison. 

“Oh, I suppose.” Leo examined his hands for a moment. “I have a knack for making things.”

“That’s cool,” Aria nodded. “I almost failed my one required shop class,” She said, laughing. Leo chuckled, a pleasant noise that Aria wanted to listen to on repeat.

“Well, you can teach me to play music and I can teach you to fix a car,” Leo said humorously. 

“Ahh, doubtful,” Aria examined Leo with a sarcastically judgemental look.

“What? You don’t think you could fix a car?”

“No, I don’t think you could play an instrument!” Leo gasped, clutching his heart and pretending to be hurt. Aria laughed at the silly boy across the piano, truly enjoying herself for the first time the entire day. Suddenly, the bell rang. Aria winced, swearing before she could stop herself.

“Shit!” The two fifteen-year olds exclaimed in unison. Aria covered her mouth, eyes wide as she stared back at Leo. Leo raised his eyebrows, and then they both burst into laughter.

“Gotta run!” Leo exclaimed, making his way to the door while still looking at Aria and almost tripping over a tuba. Aria’s eyes followed Leo out the door, a silly smile pasted to her face. She laughed to herself, grabbing her stuff and heading to choir.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, Aria walked up to her locker happily. The sun was coming up earlier and earlier these days. She opened her locker, before frowning. Where was Lina? She was normally here every morning. The brown-haired girl had moved here two months ago, about the same time as the Bronan twins. Her and Aria had become best friends almost instantly, their humor meshing together perfectly. Aria walked to science alone, checking her phone. No texts, no calls, no nothing. It was early though, the hallways almost vacant. Rounding the corner, she heard two voices murmuring quietly. She had always had good ears, which probably helped her with her music. She turned into the science classroom, and stopped in her tracks. Lina and Leo were engaged in a serious conversation from what it looked like. They seemed to be arguing.   
“Lina?” Aria asked. Lina and Leo’s heads both snapped in her direction. Leo looked red and Lina looked a little green.   
“Aria…” Lina gave Leo a withering look and made her way over to Aria.  
“What was that?” Aria whispered to Lina. It didn’t matter, Leo had already disappeared from the classroom.  
“Nothing,” Lina shook her head with a sigh, any trace of green gone from her complexion. Aria must’ve imagined it.   
“Right,” Aria said sarcastically. Lina sighed.  
“Ok, look,” Lina said reluctantly. “Leo and I used to know each other,” Aria looked up.  
“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”  
“It didn’t seem important,” Lina shrugged. “We had some stuff to talk about.” Aria nodded slowly, wondering whether to believe her friend. 

The first part of science passed rather uneventfully, Aria trying to control her feelings toward Leo. Leo ended up pulling a handful of spare parts from his jeans pocket to occupy his hands. Aria watched, chewing on her pencil, as he managed to transform a pile of scrap into a little dog that ran around Leo’s desk. Leo laughed softly as fell off the edge and he caught it in his palm.   
“Impressive,” Aria murmured. Leo looked at her with a small smile.  
“You like?” Leo reached out and dropped it into her hand. Aria smiled at the tiny little copper figure. “I’m the super-sized McShizzle, I can build anything.”  
“Don’t call yourself that!” Aria whispered, giggling.   
“Leo and Aria!” Mr. Bert said sternly. “Mind not talking?”  
Aria stifled a laugh, quickly hiding the little invention. As soon as Mr. Bert’s back was turned again, Aria looked at Leo from the corner of her eye. The sparkle of his warm eyes sent butterflies straight to Aria’s stomach. She scolded herself silently. I will NOT like Leo. 

Aria and Lina walked out to lunch on Thursday, chatting excitedly about the field trip taking place the next day. The entire freshman class was going to the carnival.   
“Oh hells no,” Lina said, and Aria quickly understood why Lina had said that. The Bronan twins were sitting in their spots. The rest of the girls were standing around awkwardly. Lina sped up, slamming her tray down on the table. Aria trailed behind reluctantly. “Get. Out!”  
The twins paid Lina no attention, staring right past her to Aria.   
“Aria, we need to speak to you,” Bruce said, his typical line. Aria willed herself not to start crying, getting her temper under control.   
“Let’s just sit somewhere else,” Aria said quietly, nudging Lina with her shoulder. Lina nodded, taking a deep breath. The girls turned away, but all the sudden Aria felt a large hand on her shoulder, spinning her around.   
“We need to-”  
“Get your hands off her!” Lina cried out. Everyone turned in their direction almost instantly, and Aria pushed his hand off of her shoulder in disgust. Angus’s nostrils flared, and Aria could’ve sworn she’d seen flames in his eyes. She flinched away from the intense glares of the two boys.   
“Hey, amigos. Do we have a problem here?” Aria relaxed at the familiar sound of Leo’s voice. He appeared by her side, a comforting presence.   
“Carm-” Bruce started in the gruff way of his, but Leo cut him off.  
“Let’s leave the girls alone, how about that?” Although Leo was shorter and scrawnier, he seemed to have an intimidating effect on the two boys.   
“Get out of here, graceus,” Bruce growled, but he seemed to be shrinking back a little. Leo stood his ground.   
“If you aren’t gone by tomorrow, Annabeth Chase will be here,” Leo warned. He sounded more serious than Aria had ever heard him. Bruce’s eyebrows furrowed. “Daughter of Athena? Blonde? Angry?” The twins huffed and slunk away, Bruce muttering demigods under his breath.  
“Leo! What in the world-” Aria burst out as soon as they were gone.   
“Aria, please, not here,” Leo pleaded. Aria fixed him with a glare.   
“You know what, Leo? I don’t even want to know! Just go away.”  
“Aria, it’s import-”  
“You heard her Valdez. Shoo,” Lina spoke up from behind Aria. Leo glared at Lina, before walking back over to his lunch table.   
Aria watched him walk away with a weird feeling in her stomach. Graceus, she thought. Greek. She blinked, wondering how she knew that.   
“I’m not hungry anymore,” Aria said to Lina.  
“Aria…” Aria ignored Lina’s protests as she dumped her lunch in the trash. What was happening to her life?


	4. Chapter 4

Aria greeted Lina the next day like nothing happened. Despite everything with Leo and the Bronan twins, Aria was excited for the field trip. She had dressed up a little more than normal in a flowy yellow tank top and jean shorts. She wore white sandals and a silver headband in her curly hair. Pink nail polish even adorned her nails.   
“Girl, you look great! Leo’s gonna be tripping,” Lina raved. Aria just rolled her eyes. Lina always looked fantastic. She was the kind of girl that had a natural beauty that always shone through, no makeup required.   
“Speaking of…” Aria nodded towards the boy who was making his way to them.  
“Lina! This is really important! We can’t let her go!” Leo pushed his way through, an urgent look on his face. He wasn’t even acknowledging Aria, eyes fixed on Lina. Today he was wearing a orange t-shirt that said Camp Half-Blood on it and shorts.  
“Leo, chill. It’s going to be fine,” Lina tried to console Leo, but he just shook his head.   
“Annabeth is coming! I got word from camp-”  
“Shut up!” Lina hissed, looking around warily at the packed hallway.   
“Annabeth? Camp? No, I’m so fucking done. With both of you!” Aria exclaimed, stalking off towards the classroom. Lina groaned and grabbed her arm before she could escape.  
“Aria, please. You’ll know soon, I promise.” Lina’s green eyes burned with an intensity that Aria had never seen before. She just gave Lina a withering look before stalking away. Leo gazed at her with sad eyes.  
“The hell do we do now?” Lina quipped, also watching Aria’s blonde head disappearing among the masses. Leo just shook his head mutely. “If you let those damn cyclops hurt her-”  
“You’ll what? Hit me with a stick? Make roots grow out of my toes? Calm down, tree woman,” Lina’s eyes flickered.   
“Don’t test me, fire boy,” Leo ignored her, swearing loudly in spanish. Lina looked where he was looking and heaved a sigh. “Fantastic.”  
A tan, lean, important-looking girl with a blond, bouncing ponytail made a beeline towards the two teenagers leaning against the lockers. She wore a t-shirt identical to Leo’s, a necklace with clay beads around her neck. More importantly, she had her knife strapped to her thigh. Kids murmured and moved away from her as they saw.  
“Annabeth! Dagger?” Leo hissed at her as soon as she was within speaking range. Annabeth waved him off.  
“Unimportant. Where’s the girl?” Leo had not missed Annabeth’s steely eyes.  
“It is important, as a matter of fact, some kid is going to tell the office and then we are going to be screwed. And the girl’s name is Aria,” Leo said defiantly. Annabeth sighed.  
“I’m sorry. Where is Aria?” Lina responded for Leo.   
“Leo, the genius, had an argument with the cyclopes, letting a bunch of stuff slip and now Aria is super confused and super mad at him,” Lina explained. Annabeth just shook her head.  
“She’s mad at you too-”  
“Leo, this quest should’ve been over days ago! We need to get this girl out of here before something bad happens,” Annabeth scolded.  
“I’ve been trying, I swear. But the cyclopes aren’t going to attack her, not yet,” Leo reasoned.   
“You don’t know that. Do you know where she is?” Annabeth asked urgently. The bell rang before Leo could answer.  
“Sorry, but Lina and I have a field trip to attend,” Leo shrugged, and as he walked toward his classroom, he felt Annabeth’s glare like lasers on his back.


	5. Chapter 5

Aria talked with Cora as they waited in line for ice cream. A few hours into the field trip, and nothing weird yet. No Bronan twins, no Leo, and most worryingly, no Lina. Aria knew she really shouldn’t have snapped at her like that, but it was so difficult. Her and Leo were obviously hiding some huge secret from her and it made her feel crappy to not be included in it. Aria’s head shot up as she heard a shriek from across the food court. Aria’s heart sank at what she saw.   
“WHERE IS ARIA CARMINE?” Bruce bellowed. Angus swung a giant fist, hitting a chair and sending it flying into a food truck ten feet away. Aria froze, squinting her eyes. Something was happening to the Bronan twin’s faces, they looked blurry. Cora gasped next to her.  
“Aria? What is happening?” Cora said, panic evident in her voice. Aria shook her head, watching the destruction. More chairs and tables took flight, people screaming and diving for cover. At the sight of a toddler almost killed by a flying chair, Aria knew she had to do something.   
“I’m right here, dipshits! Come get me!” Aria stepped out into the deserted eating area, stepping over a plastic chair. The heads of the massive brothers swiveled in her direction. It looked like they had doubled, maybe tripled in size. Angus yelled out in rage, but Bruce put out a hand, stopping his brother from charging Aria. Angus took his wrath out on a table, flinging it into a souvenir shop. Glass shattered everywhere, and more shouts were heard. It’s not working, Aria thought with frustration.   
“Cmon, you buttugly freak! What are you waiting for?” Aria yelled, trying to antagonize the beasts even more. Angus bellowed out, and Aria watched in horrified awe, almost trembling with fear as he grew in size, taller than the food truck next to him. His shirt ripped off, exposing bulging muscles. He set off towards Aria, his brother unable to stop him. Aria froze, realizing she hadn’t thought along this far. As Angus bore down on her, Aria felt herself switch into survival mode, her blood taking over. She looked down at her forearms in amazement. Her veins were glowing a blinding gold, and it was growing stronger every second. Aria braced herself, glowing brighter and brighter. Angus howled out as the light blinded him, staggering to where Aria should’ve been. Instead, someone had come, pushing her out of the way.   
Aria moaned, suddenly feeling like all the energy had been drained out of her. Opening her eyes, she realized with a mixture of shock and embarrassment that Leo Valdez was on top of her. He was rubbing his eyes.  
“Ouch,” Aria groaned, rubbing the back of her head where she had landed.  
“Oh, sorry,” Leo said apologetically. “But you would’ve been crushed.”  
“Thanks for saving me.”  
“No big deal, but you saved yourself! That was frickin amazing-”  
“Leo!” Aria interrupted, seeing Bruce getting closer to them. Plus, Angus was still stumbling around blindly and there was a high chance they would be crushed if they didn’t move.  
“I mean you just lit up, I’m still seeing stars! I wonder who your godly parent could be-”  
“Leo!” Aria exclaimed more frantically this time, and shoved Leo from where he had been perched from above her. She scrambled to her feet. Leo winced.  
“That’s a problem isn’t it?” Aria said incredulously, barely believing her eyes. Aria watched as Angus moaned and stumbled around, flattening chairs.   
“A bit. Annabeth should be here soon to help us with the bigger problem,” Leo gestured to Bruce, who was staring at Aria with a furious expression. Aria began to ask who Annabeth was, but she was interrupted.  
“YOU BLINDED MY BROTHER!” Bruce was getting closer by the second, a furious expression on his horrific face, which Aria realized now only had one eye. Cyclops, she realized. “YOU WILL PAY!”   
All of the sudden, a girl appeared out of thin air. A baseball cap fell from her hand as she dropped into a roll. Aria saw a flash of bronze as she unsheathed a dagger from her hip, and sliced at Bruce’s leg. Bruce howled in pain, swinging a fist in the girl’s direction. The girl was no longer there however, all of the sudden next to them.  
“Nice seeing you here, Owl Head,” Leo greeted casually. Aria just gaped at the obviously incredibly skilled girl. Annabeth rolled her eyes, and began unbuckling something from her waist. Aria hadn’t even noticed it was there.  
“Save it, Repair Boy,” Annabeth said, catching her breath. “Want this?” She dangled the belt in front of Leo.  
“Yes! But actually, Annie, I prefer Admiral Leo,” Annabeth gave Leo a scathing look, dropping the toolbelt into his waiting hands.   
“And I prefer demigods with some brains,” She retorted, before sprinting away to finish the fight she had begun. Aria giggled at Leo’s fake offended expression.  
“I don’t think she will ever like me,” Leo said under his breath as he strapped on the tool belt. “Ok, now’s the fun part. Would you mind stealing a truck and hitting Angus with it?” Aria gaped at Leo, mouth wide.  
“Would I MIND-” Aria began, voice embarrassingly high pitched. Leo winced.  
“Too much? Alright, guess we are going to have to do this the old-fashioned way…” Leo reached into his toolbelt and pulled out a ginormous hammer. For what felt like the millionth time that day, Aria rubbed her eyes in surprise. There was no way that hammer would fit into that tiny belt!  
“What in th-” She began but was cut off by a lung-crushing hug from behind. It lasted a good three seconds before they released her.   
“Thank goodness, Aria! I was so worried about you!” It was Lina, her face streaked with tears, but her expression showing all the joy in the world. Aria pulled her back into another hug, willing herself not to cry.   
“I’m so sorry, Lina,” Aria apologized as she pulled away.  
“Don’t apologize, girl, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Lina consoled her, fixing Aria’s messy hair. “Now. We’ve got some monsters to slay,” Lina’s eyes seemed greener than ever, and Aria watched, bewildered, as her friend’s hair and skin turned to green. It looked bizarre but beautiful at the same time. “I’m a dryad, a tree nymph,” Lina explained before Aria could ask. “You’ll learn all about us at camp, if you don’t die first.”  
Aria nodded, taking a deep breath.  
“Guess I’ll try not to die, then?”  
“Ahh yes, excellent planning, Aria!” Leo scrambled over some chairs to the two girls. “I think she might be an Owl Head, what do you think, tree woman?” Aria had no idea what Leo was saying or what an Owl Head was, but Lina seemed to.  
“Don’t be an asshole, Valdez,” Lina told him. He didn’t seem to be fazed in the least by the fact that Lina was totally green. Leo ignored the insult, hefting the hammer up.  
“Some help?” Leo asked.  
“Always,” Lina replied sarcastically, and began to get Angus’s attention. From the corner of her eye, Aria saw Annabeth stab Bruce with her dagger. He exploded into golden dust, much to Aria’s surprise. Annabeth made her way over to the group, looking disgusted to be covered in monster dust. Aria watched as Lina shot twigs, or whatever, from her fingertips. They didn’t seem to be that effective, but they did distract Bruce from Leo, who had somehow made his way to the top of a food stand. With a whoop, he launched himself off the edge. Aria watched, mesmerized, as he slammed the hammer into the side of Angus’s head. He dropped the rest of the way and landed in a crouch, seemingly unharmed. Angus, on the other hand, crumpled to the pavement in a heap.   
“Nice work, Valdez,” Annabeth commented, making her way over with the bronze dagger still in her fist. Without hesitation, she drove it into the cyclops’s chest. He exploded into dust the same way his brother had.   
“Aww, why do you always get to dispatch?” Leo whined, now in a standing position.   
“Because I’m older than you,” Annabeth replied.  
“Nice work, guys,” Lina said, joining in on the little huddle.   
“Could’ve been smoother,” Annabeth admitted. Aria opened her mouth to ask what the hell was going on, but her vision was suddenly swimming. She stumbled, losing her balance.  
“Aria!” Aria heard Leo call her name, and suddenly she was falling. The last thing she remembered was the feeling of her head against Leo’s chest before her vision went black.


End file.
